Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide variety of applications to support articles elevationally above an outer body surface of a vehicle. Typically, such vehicle article carriers include a pair of slats or elevated side rails which are each fixedly secured to the outer body surface of the vehicle in spaced apart relation to one another so as to extend generally parallel along a major longitudinal length of the vehicle. At least one crossbar, and more typically a pair of cross bars, are coupled between the slats or side rails. The cross bars are used to support articles thereon. Typically, at least one of the cross bars is adjustable so that it can be repositioned along the slats or side rails as needed to better support articles of various sizes.
It is highly desirable to provide a cross bar which has a locking mechanism at each end thereof which is easy for a user to engage and disengage. Put differently, it is desirable to provide a locking mechanism in which allows each end of the cross bar to be quickly and easily unlocked and locked to its associated slat or side rail by a user without the need for any external tools.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a locking assembly suitable for use at each end of the cross bar of a vehicle article carrier, wherein the locking assembly has a mechanism which permits easy engagement and disengagement by a user without the need for any external tools, and which is highly resistant to interference from the elements. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a locking mechanism which can be constructed relatively inexpensively and which does not increase the volume required at the end support of a cross bar.